Nelson teenage Islamic extremist jailed over gun attack plot

A teenager who planned to fly to Somalia to join the Islamic State group has been jailed after he admitted planning a terrorist attack with a gun.

The Old Bailey in London heard how Italian national, Muhammad Billal, who lived in Nelson, Lancashire, had researched how to buy weapons and downloaded maps of locations including military bases in the UK and a college in his local area.

When police arrested Billal at Manchester Airport in November 2024 they found terrorist literature on his mobile phone, and an internet search history of guns, such as rifles and semi-automatic weaponry.

Billal, now 19, has been given a 13-and-a-half year sentence after pleading guilty to terrorism charges.

He was charged in February 2025 with two counts of preparation of terrorist acts and four counts of collecting information likely to be used by a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, told Billal: “By your own account to the probation officer, you intended to kill members of the public and you hoped to be killed by police.”

She added: “You could not be sure that you would not have gone through with the attack.”

The court heard he repeatedly accessed IS material and declared his support for the organisation throughout 2024 until his arrest.

The teenager also avidly collected “a wealth” of terrorist propaganda published by IS’s propaganda arm.

After downloading a secure messaging app and chatting to contacts he went on to buy plane tickets to fly to Somalia via Dubai so he could train at a terrorist camp, the court heard.